A CEO’s DILEMMA
INACCURATE MECHANICAL GRADING IS A LARGE, BUT HIDDEN EXPENSE. When large shrimp are mis-graded into lower-priced categories, their selling price is reduced.
The shrimp industry has experienced intense growth in worldwide production, resulting in lower prices. To maintain competitiveness, shrimp processors like Indian Seafood processors continuously look for ways to reduce costs while improving quality and margins.
Anand Ramesh, CEO of processor Ananda Group in India, recognized that Grading had a tremendous opportunity for improvement. He sensed that the mechanical graders used in his plant were not accurate enough, but that was the only available technology.
He knew why accurate grading is critical for his business. When large shrimp are mis-graded into lower-priced categories, their selling price is reduced, resulting in lower profits. And, the cost of manual labor for removing mis-graded shrimp is inefficient.
He also realized that more accurate grading could improve the buying process by improving the alignment between purchased material and active production goals.
Accurate grading creates a competitive advantage, resulting in higher material profitability, more efficient production, less labor, and higher quality... all at the same time.
FINDING A BETTER WAY
Laitram Machinery, a leading supplier of shrimp processing solutions, introduced Mr. Ramesh to its newly patented “SMART Sorter.” He visited Laitram Machinery’s headquarters in New Orleans, USA, and saw the equipment in operation.
A lot of his previously mechanically graded product was re-graded as a demonstration of the SMART Grader’s accuracy. The results were astonishing and revealed an average lost sales price estimated at $0.17 per pound, this price increase translates into $1.7 million of increased profits for every 10 million pounds sold.
Mr. Ramesh left New Orleans confident that he had stumbled on a crucial new technology! Telling Laitram that “the benefits were Immediately obvious”, and while in New Orleans placed an order for two Smart Sorters immediately after the test.
THE RESULTS
AFTER USING THE SMART SORTERS FOR 6 MONTHS
“I AM CONVINCED THIS IS THE NEW STANDARD FOR OUR INDUSTRY".
“We can precisely grade the target average count with the desired BS ratio, to maximize value for every product I sell. We can increase percentage (%) of target size that we intend to grade.”
Mr. Ramesh Varma, Director Ananda Group.
After the installation of the first two units in India, Mr. Ramesh had his team tested again the Smart Grader side by side with one of his mechanical graders. The results proved what he saw during the test and now he is seeing the benefits of the shrimp upgraded in a larger size in clear additional margin per pound.
After using 3 SMART Sorters for 6 months, Mr. Ramesh
summed up the results by saying:
We have installed 3 laser scanning grading machines in 3 different facilities. After using the machine for 6-12 months we believe that this will be the new standard for our industry and will replace roller graders from the industry.
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We can precisely grade the target average count with the desired BS ratio, to maximize value for every product I sell;
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We can increase the percentage (%) of the target size that we intend to grade.
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The scanning technology gives me better throughput and higher quality, all with less labor.
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Easy to use, save time.
Anand Ramesh – Ananda Group, Andhra Pradesh, India
